Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler visited his home turf of Marshfield, Massachusetts over the weekend and, as part of his short stay, he visited the Humarock Holiday Stroll, a three-day festival of holiday activities.

"Anytime I can walk this way, I'm there," said Tyler.

WATD-FM Marshfield reports that Tyler also sang a few holiday songs with a group of Victorian Christmas Carolers. Saturday's festivities ended with the lighting of the Christmas Tree in front of the Hummingrock Gift Shop.

"I'm currently doing American Idol, they took a break, were going into a thing called Hollywood week, and then I came home for Thanksgiving for my dad," Tyler told WATD’s Bob Gohl. "I also got called up by Sir Paul McCartney and he asked me to sing the last four songs of Abbey Road, so i said 'umm ok,' doing it. So I'm headed down to the Kennedy honors in Washington."

The Kennedy Center Honors take place December 5, and will air on CBS on December 28 at 9:00pm eastern.

Tyler calls Marshfield his home, "This is my solace, this is real to me, this is real. It can get real unreal...this is my grounding, I love it here, I love the smell of the sea air. Ya know, I get to be with family, as long as I’m not talking on the raaaaaadio!"

New Zealand’s Sun Live reports that the offence was discovered by police when they executed a search warrant on Rudd’s launch at the Tauranga Bridge Marina on October 7.

Inside they found 25 grams of cannabis and a further two grams of cannabis at another location on the boat.

His lawyer, Craig Tuck, asked the magistrate to discharge him without conviction because the “low level” offence could hinder his chances of travelling internationally as AC/DC’s drummer.

Craig told the court that Rudd spent nine months travelling the globe with AC/DC in 2009, earning his share of $400 million from concerts.

“Over the last nine months, at least 20 countries have been entered,” says Craig. “He travels extensively around the globe, across the planet, and on the basis of such criminality, which is low level offending, he is being targeted.”

Craig told the magistrate that Rudd was remorseful and has taken full responsibility for his actions. He says Rudd has contributed millions of dollars to the local community since moving to Tauranga.

Police opposed Tuck’s request to have his client discharged without conviction. They say that if Rudd wanted to enter a country like the United States, he would still have to declare that he has been arrested on drugs charges and appeared in court.

Community magistrate Robyn Paterson refused the request for him to be discharged without conviction saying Rudd was playing “Russian roulette” by being in possession of cannabis.

She says given his age, responsibilities and the fact that he earns multi-millions travelling the world, he should have known how serious a drug conviction could be.

“It was not just an accident. You were blindly ignoring the law. You have been playing Russian roulette.”

Rudd was convicted and given a fine of $250 and ordered to pay court fees.

McKagan has been around the block a few times. He's played in a few bands (Loaded, Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver) and studied business at Seattle U; he's a voracious reader, a bassist, a married father of two, and he's here to help.

We're going to try something new next week and let those of you who have been regular (or irregular, for that matter) consumers of Duff's weekly columns a chance to ping him with a few queries. Like his column, the questions need not be music related.

Need help tuning your guitar, finding a good book, or a present for your girlfriend? Ask Duff. Want to know where to get a bite to eat in Belltown at Midnight? Ask Duff.

Send your queries, including the name you'd like to appear online (or in print) and your hometown to askduff@seattleweekly.com.

Ozzy Osbourne fans looking for an other-worldly experience can now reach out to “the other side” via the new collector’s edition custom OUIJA: The Ozzy Osbourne Edition game from Live Nation Merchandise, under license from Hasbro, Inc.

It is available only for concert-goers who purchase any of the VIP packages for the 2010-2011 U.S. tour dates.

Developed in the late 1800’s as a talking board game, the OUIJA board has remained in use for more than 100 years in the U.S.

The OUIJA: The Ozzy Osbourne Edition features the Prince of Darkness on the box with his signature OZZY OSBOURNE logo featured on the game board. One game will be given for each V.I.P. ticket purchased for the 2010-2011 U.S. tour.

Details re a limited number of VIP packages are as follows:

• The “Ozzy Osbourne Meet & Greet Package” is limited to 30 tickets per show and amenities include: premium seating within the first 3 rows of the stage, Meet & Greet and personal photograph with OZZY, VIP access to the exclusive pre-concert party hosted by MC Big Dave and a variety of OZZY tour- related items.

• The “Ozzy Osbourne Possessed Party Package”--available to the first 200 buyers--includes a ticket located within the first 10 rows of the stage, VIP access to the exclusive pre-concert party hosted by MC Big Dave and a variety of OZZY tour-related items.

Ozzy kicked off his fall North American arena tour November 12 in Victoria, B.C. with the first leg of dates set to wrap December 12 in Minneapolis, MN. Ozzy is being joined by Halford - featuring legendary Judas Priest front man, Rob Halford - on the 2010 dates.

The tour resumes January 16, 2011 in Omaha, NE and will conclude February 22 in Jacksonville, FL. Ozzy’s longtime friend and musical collaborator Slash (featuring Myles Kennedy) will open all the concerts on the second leg.

Rushisaband is reporting that a new Rush book is due in 2011….but this isn’t any ordinary look at the band.

"Back in June of 2009 we learned that Open Court Publishing had put out a call for papers for a RUSH And Philosophy book that they were planning to release as part of their popular Culture And Philosophy book series.

Longtime Rush and philosophy author Durrell Bowman, along with Jim Berti, are the co-editors of the 288-page anthology which is slated for release in May of next year and is now available for pre-order via Amazon.

The book is divided into 4 sections containing 16 essays with a complete title of "Rush And Philosophy: Always Hopeful, Yet Discontent."

Part I: “The Blacksmith and the Artist”1. Rush’s Libertarianism Never “Fit the Plan”2. Hardly Rand-y Peart3. “What Can This Strange Device Be?”: Man and Machine in Rush4. Barenaked Death Metal Trip-Hopping on Industrial Strings

Part II: “I Want to Look Around Me Now”1. Myth, Mystery, and Mist?: Secular Humanism and Mystical Language in Rush2. The Inner and Outer Worlds of Minds and Selves3. Contre Nous: Musical Otherness in Rush4. How is Rush Canadian?

Part III: “To the Margin of Error”1. “Cruising in Prime Time”: The Drumming of Neil Peart as Distraction2. The Groove of Rush’s Complex Rhythms3. ‘Nailed It!’: Virtuosity, YouTube Performance, and Rush’s Aesthetics of Replicability4. From Plato’s Cave to Benjamin’s Language Forest: On Imitating Rush

Part IV: “The Ebb and Flow of Tidal Fortune”1. Training Listeners to Think, Feel, and Act2. Ghost Riding on the Razor’s Edge: Neil Peart’s Search for Meaning through Tragedy3. Honey on the Rim of “The Larger Bowl” 4. “Bearing a Gift Beyond Price”: Valuing the Music of Rush

The Culture and Philosophy book series are collections of essays by academic philosophers exploring the meanings, concepts, and puzzles within television shows, movies, music and other icons of popular culture. Since its inception in 2000 with "Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing" the series has published over 40 titles including "Lord of the Rings and Philosophy," "Star Wars and Philosophy," "Bob Dylan and Philosophy" and "Pink Floyd and Philosophy."

Chickenfoot are thanking fans for their support with a newly-released live video of a Jimi Hendrix classic.

"This was a great year and we were just feeling thankful for all of you fans and thought we'd share this as a holiday gift," said the band. "It's an outtake from the 'Live In Cabo' webcast and is a really smoking version of this tune! Have a great holiday season and we'll see you from the studio in the 2011!"

The April 24, 2010 webcast was part of singer Sammy Hagar’s 20th Anniversary celebrations for his Cabo Wabo Cantina club in San Lucas, Mexico.

Chickenfoot are due back in the studio in January, to resume work on their sophomore album.

The band – Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Joe Satriani and drummer Chad Smith – head into the recording sessions knowing that Smith won’t be able to tour to support the next record, since he’ll be on the road with The Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2011.Chickenfoot – Foxy LadyCabo Wabo Cantina – Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – April 24, 2010

Buckcherry have released an original Christmas song, "Christmas Is Here," via iTunes.

"We have been wanting to write an original Christmas song for some time and never had opportunity until now,” said the band.

“’Christmas Is Here' got started with a simple melody in the spirit of traditional Christmas songs, then Josh took the melody to Keith who came up with the music and it came together very quickly, with all 5 of us jamming up at the Bastard Ranch where 'All Night Long' was made.”

NOTE: Armstrong will not appear as "St. Jimmy" from January 11 to January 16 and from February 1 to February 9.

This move is sure to help business in January, traditionally a slow sales month everywhere following the splurge of holiday spending.

In late September, between tour dates, Armstrong was on Broadway for 8 performances of the musical, and ticket sales jumped to more than a million dollars for the week, compared to less than half of that the week prior. At the time, the average weekly gross for “American Idiot” had been $740,000 since it opened on April 20 (yes, 4/20).

What should be another cool week in the life of Jack White turned a little nasty Monday, as the White Stripes frontman and record entrepreneur found himself in a heated debate with fans.

As we told you a few weeks back (see “The White Stripes reissue first three albums”here), today marks the first of three consecutive Tuesdays where fans can pick up long-overdue reissues of the first three LP’s by The White Stripes, courtesy of White’s Third Man Records.

Out-of-print in North America since 2005, TMR put the utmost care into presenting these records in the best way possible; in addition, fans have the choice of snagging standard black vinyl copies or limited edition double-colored vinyl.

Available this week is the 1999 self-titled debut of "The White Stripes.” TMR offered five copies of the limited edition double-cored vinyl for sale via eBay auction, which ticked off fans who have a paid membership to TMR’s “The Vault” – a social networking and product subscription service for the label.

Within an hour, all five copies were over $100 on eBay. White’s eBay sale was designed to thwart “flippers,” people who buy rare records cheap and sell them for (often) huge profit; in the process, some fans turned against White and questioned what, exactly, were they getting in return for their paid membership in “The Vault.”

Aware of the nasty comments being posted by fans on his site, Jack stepped in and spoke directly to the issue at hand: “nobody told them to buy it with a gun to their head,” responded White. “Or are they just paying what the going rate is? We sell a Wanda Jackson split record for 10 bucks, the eBay flipper turns around and sells it for 300. If 300 is what it’s worth, then why doesn’t Third Man Records sell it for 300? If we sell them for more, the artist gets more, the flipper gets nothing. We’re not in the business of making flippers a living. We’re in the business of giving fans what they want.”

When questioned about the integrity of the auction angle, White answered “You’re the ones telling us what they are worth.” Jack further reinforced the theory behind limited-edition releases, and that fans always have the choice of picking up the standard black vinyl copies of TMR releases.

With thanks to Antiquiet, here’s a transcript of some of the discussion:

Fan: Alright? Is this a big FU or something to vault members?! I ran home all excited to see what was going to be posted and this is it?! Seriously this is a bunch of crap. I pay my membership and have really got nothing extraordinary for it in return really?

Jack: you’ve gotten NOTHING extraordinary in return? i’d have to disagree with you, as the records you’ve received you can ONLY get with a vault membership. i won’t bore you with online content and free giveaways, and first admission privileges, etc. but are you saying you aren’t getting rare records at a price that’s at least a third of what they go for on, oh i don’t know ….ebay?

Fan: Well I think it’s official this is my last Vault experience. Really nothing on here worth paying for anymore. Think you get something special with a message, but it’s really just a link to fan exploitation.

Jack: fan exploitation? really? if you don’t want it, DONT BUY IT. and if you do want it, don’t act like you DON’T want it. get in line like anyone else, hunt for it like anyone else. you act like we bury them in tunnels in vietnam for god sakes, you can get one randomly in the mail if your lucky, in line at a store if you’re lucky, in your hometown if you’re lucky, etc. who is guaranteed a rare hard to find record? only vault members and their quarterly subscriptions. there’s luck in every other version.

Fan: F*** you, Third Man.

Jack: really? you think we deserve that? would you like us to just stop making limited edition records? you would go so far as to say f*** you to us? for what? we didn’t do anything to you but give you what you want. you’re a vault member obviously, for what reason? limited records you can’t get elsewhere? would you kindly send us those records back so we can sell them to some other fan who didn’t get to have them? don’t want a split colored limited edition record? then guess what? don’t buy one. don’t want them to be expensive? then guess what? don’t WANT them. it’s you and others wanting them that dictates the price and the entire nature of the idea.

make no mistake, we could make twenty thousand split color whatevers for you, and they’ll be worth 20 bucks, and you’ll pay 20 bucks for them, and you’ll never talk about them, desire them, hunt to find them, etc. why should ebay flippers, who are not real fans, dictate the price, make all the profit (taken from the artist and the label) and take the records out of the hands of real fans. there’s a guy who waits in a black suv down the block from third man who hires homeless people to go buy him tri colors when they are on sale. doesn’t even get out of his car. should he be charged ten bucks or two hundred? don’t be spoiled, don’t insult people who are trying to give you what you want. last quarter every vault member got a black and blue live record. a record you’re only supposed to get if you ACTUALLY GO to a live show at third man. are you pissed about that?

we’ve done giveaways, contests, auctions, etc. a lot of different ways for vault members to get first crack at limited records when we don’t have to. we do it because by being a member you’re supposedly making a statement that you’re a real fan who wants the music, and to be involved in collecting rare and interesting vinyl. from some of these comments i take it that a lot of you would like this to be all digital, available to anyone on amazon dot com, anytime. boring, lifeless, lazy, and redundant. don’t get mad at third man for giving you exactly what you’ve asked for. and seriously stop all of the whining, because what you communicate to us is that all of the trouble we go to isn’t worth it because nothing we do will make you happy. we’ll try to do back rubs door to door when we get a chance. sincerely the staff at third man records.

We’ll see if this debate heats up again over the next two weeks, as split-color and black vinyl reissues of “De Stijl” and “White Blood Cells” follow on December 7th and December 14th, respectively.

Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder is heading down under for his first ever Australian solo tour, kicking off on March 10th in Brisbane and ending on March 27 in Adelaide.

Evil J & Saint Cecilia will open the shows.

A special Ten Club-only ticket pre-sale for members active as of Monday, November 29th at 6:59pm Australia NSW (that's Sunday, November 28th at 11:59pm PST in the US). If you are not already a member, you will not be eligible for the pre-sale. Sorry, tickets are very limited.

The pre-sale will begin Thursday, December 2nd at 9am Australia NSW time (that's Wednesday, December 1st at 2pm PST in the US).

The pre-sale will end on Saturday, December 4th at 9am for Australia NSW (that's Friday, December 3rd at 2pm PST in the US) or until tickets are gone.

I am a musician. I did not attend college and barely made it out of high school. I try my hardest to keep my ticket prices low, THIS I HAVE CONTROL OF!!

I cannot control, nor do I understand how the f*** the scalpers and all the secondary websites and bulls*** get them. IF I COULD CONFRONT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM FACE TO FACE I WOULD AND IT WOULD NOT WORK OUT TO WELL FOR THEM I GUARANTEE ALL OF YOU. I hate them, I feel like someone is beating up a close friend or family member while I’m chained to a chair.

I try to understand it, I try to ask my managers and people in the business I know to help me understand it, but it seems they don’t either.

The only way I know right now to stop it is to not buy from these people or wait till the last minute when they’re scared they can’t sell ‘em and have to sell them cheap.

I am not gonna apologize for something I can’t control, and if you wanna hate or blame me for it, go for it. But if you’re really pissed about it, research it and try to find out why it’s going on and let me know.

Alot of us are trying to figure out a better way, trust me, the last thing i want is some bottom of the barrel lazy f*** who won’t get a real job ripping off my fans to get rich.

And no, this post was not consulted w my mangers or publicist, they would probably say not to post it, but that’s not how I do things.

This is right from my computer to yours.

I hope it helps to understand at least how I feel about people trying to get tickets in my fan club or any other way that turns out to be a let down, THAT IS NOT MY INTENTION OR WHY I GOT INTO MUSIC AT ALL. Maybe I should shut down the fan club, because I don’t want anyone to think I’m screwing them and I can’t keep the "bottom feeders" from joining it, YET!

I try to think of better ways to do things all the time, especially for the fans, but my main focus is always my son and then writing good songs, without those two things, nothing is happening. I will keep my mind spinning trying to figure out a better way to get good tickets to my true fans, and it brings to mind a new song on the new cd "the least that I can do is care" Unfortunately that’s not gonna be enuff in this case.

Trust me, I’m on top of this and doing what I can. thx

Kid Rock – Born Free2010 United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show Ford Field – Detroit, MI – November 25, 2010

On January 11, Versailles Records will release "Rock & Roll Train: A Millenium Tribute To AC/DC," a compilation featuring current and former members of Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Megadeth, Fuel and others, as they celebrate the 35 year legacy of one of rock's greatest bands.

AC/DC has reigned over Rock N' Roll for 35 years, their signature power chord rock become the sonic standard bearer of the genre they helped invent and pioneer, amplified by Rolling Stone Magazine's declaration that they are "one of the top hard-rock bands in history."

Tesla guitarist Frank Hannon accused Guns N Roses of ripping off one their early demos for use as “Patience.”

Hannon’s remarks on the November 13 episode of VH1’s “That Metal Show” were part of a discussion on whether “Patience” was a better acoustic hard rock song that Tesla’s version of “Signs.”

"Let me tell you something: 'Patience'...,” began Hannon. “We were labelmates with Guns N Roses on Geffen. There's a demo of a song that we wrote called 'Better Off Without You.' It is 'Patience' note for note . . . I don't know if they ripped us off or Tom Zutaut or Geffen or somebody passed them the tape."

Geffen A&R man Tom Zutaut was the man responsible for signing both bands to Geffen Records.

News of the accusation caught up to former GnR guitarist Slash, who didn’t take kindly to the suggestion.

"I heard that one of the guys from Tesla claimed GNR stole 'Patience' from them,” wrote Slash on Facebook. “I'm assuming he's smoking super crack. Or dreaming out loud . . . I didn't hear the actual interview so I won't jump to conclusions based on hearsay. I'll just make emotiphants!"

Hannon went into damage control, posting a clarification of his comments on Tesla’s official message board.

"The demo of 'Better Off Without You' I was talking about is an acoustic guitar version we did live at the Oasis Ballroom in 1985 that Geffen Records had on a 'live' cassette tape of a show we played. They did make some copies of it with labels on them and handed them out to people before we made our first album. If anyone can find one, that would be awesome. I was not talking about the piano version that's floating around on a bootleg.

"Also, for the record: 'Better Off Without You' is a song in 'D' and it does the 'D/F#-to-G' chord change in it. This is also the same type of change that GNR used at the end of 'Patience' and also the same change that John Lennon uses in 'Imagine'...

"I do not seriously feel that we wrote 'Patience' in ANY WAY.

"The song 'Patience' is a great song that they [GNR] wrote themselves, and it is only the end part that has any similar part to the guitar chords we used.

"I apologize for any controversy or disrespect I may have projected in my joking around with Eddie Trunk ["That Metal Show" co-host] about this."

Rush have announced that The Time Machine Tour will visit new cities throughout North America, and play a few return engagements, beginning March 30th in Ft. Lauderdale and running through April 22nd in 2011 with dates in Greensboro, Nashville, Louisville, Toledo, Hershey, New York’s esteemed Madison Square Garden, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Hamilton, Montreal and Baltimore.

The tour also returns to North America in June with performances in select markets that will include cities such as New Orleans, Austin, Vancouver - and a very special return play in Los Angeles – more information on these dates will be made available soon.

Tickets for RUSH go on sale in select markets beginning December 6th at LiveNation.com.

To benefit the relief efforts in Haiti, one dollar of each ticket sold will be donated through several charities including “Doctors Without Borders.” Rush will also contribute a portion of their proceeds at the culmination of the tour.

The Detroit Free Press reports that tickets sold out in 19 minutes, Friday morning, for Kid Rock’s January 15 birthday concert at Ford Field.

More than 45,000 seats, including several thousand purchased in a private presale earlier this week, were snatched up.

A second Ford Field date will not be added, a show representative said.

Fans who came up empty aren’t necessarily out of luck if they’re determined to attend the event, a 40th birthday celebration that’s expected to include a star-powered guest list.

There remain a limited number of $300 VIP packages, which include frills such as a Kid Rock football jersey and exclusive bar access. And dozens of tickets have already popped up at the resale site StubHub.com, with asking prices that range from $90 to more than $1,000.

Friday’s Ford Field feat is just the latest highlight in Rock’s increasingly impressive hometown résumé: In the past 14 months, his shows in metro Detroit have tallied more than 180,000 tickets — which would amount to 12 sold-out concerts at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

It’s been about 5 months since Sammy Hagar and publishers Harper Collins announced that the Red Rocker had signed on to write his autobiography.

Time for an update on "Red: My Uncensored Life as a Rocker," due next year.

"The book's basically done, but the editors want me to go deeper in a couple of areas," Hagar tells the Marin Independent Journal. "They said, 'There were problems in Van Halen? Well, what kind of problems?' The way I've written this book is that I'm just telling the stories, from childhood until now. It's humorous in places, there are sad things, inspirational things."

Sammy says the final product won’t pull any punches.

"It's sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, tequila and success and cars and money and fame and fortune," he says. "I've gone over the top. It really is crazy. I was shocked when I read my own book. It floored me. I said, 'Wow, what a guy.' I've had the most complete friggin' life on the planet. I can imagine people thinking this guy couldn't have done all that in one lifetime. But I've been a busy boy."

Friday, November 26, 2010

Ahead of his North American tour in the New Year, Robert Plant is scheduled to appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Thursday, December 9.

No official word, yet, on whether Plant will be interviewed or is set to be the musical guest that evening, but his name does appear in the music performance slot on the Late Night TV Page’s schedule for the show.

When Plant appeared on Fallon’s show earlier this year as an interview guest, Jimmy invited Robert back to perform with his group, the Band Of Joy.

Mick and Keith topped the list, an especially easy choice following the release of Keith Richard’s autobiography, “Life,” where the guitarist took swipes at Jagger while sharing his side of the story.

Simon and Garfunkel at #2 may surprise some who aren’t familiar with the easy-going music partnership’s lengthy and strained history. Rolling Stone references a particularly low point in the mid 1980's when Simon erased Garfunkel's vocals from a planned reunion disc and released it as a solo set.

At #3, the Aerosmith “American Idol” feud is so new, strong and visible, that I think it’s actually too early to tell which way that scene is going to play out. Sure, Perry and Tyler have a long history of issues, but Rolling Stone has based this position on the Idol debate only.

This type of thing happens frequently with lists, and especially with Rolling Stone lists: a current event is flavor-of-the-week and soaking up the spotlight, which tends to blur the editors view of its rightful place in history. I reference Rolling Stone’s "Greatest Guitarist" list of 2003 as a comparable example: Jack White lands at #17 while Eddie Van Halen sits at #70 on the all-time list. Ridiculous.

Beyond the top three, I doubt there’s many surprises on the list for most people, as these have all been highly visible and documented through the years.

Interesting to note that 4 of the 11 include family members (The Kinks, The Everly Brothers, Oasis and Van Halen), while a case could be made that the other 7 scraps felt like they were with family…as many bands outlive member’s personal relationships.The Rolling Stones – (I Can’t Get No) SatisfactionShine A Light DVDBeacon Theatre – New York, NY – 2006

The two played the Hoping Foundation benefit in Oxfordshire, England to a crowd of about 200 people. The event helped raise £350,000 for the charity, which collects funds to assist young Palestinian refugees. ‘Hoping’ stands for ‘Hope and Optimism for Palestinians in the Next Generation’…

It’s the first time the duo have played publicly since the Pink Floyd reunion set at Live 8 in London back in 2005.

Well, news this week from Classic Rock magazine that drummer Nick Mason was to be a part of the event, but backed out due to the location: the home of UK socialite Jemima Khan.

In the December edition of Classic Rock, Mason discloses that he pulled out of what would have been Pink Floyd’s second reunion in almost 30 years after he discovered that Sir James Goldsmith’s daughter owned the Oxfordshire house, Kiddington Hall, where the concert was to be held.

“That particular event wasn’t right for a re-formation of Pink Floyd,” commented Mason. “I said I would do it, but it was a charity event for suits, and it felt wrong to turn a small thing into a big deal just because Jemima Khan was in attendance.

“Why play for a lot of posh totty instead of some of the other things we should save that up for – a Live 8 type of thing?”

Iconic status has been placed on Eric Clapton for most, if not all, of his career, but it’s impressive that fans have continued to hold the guitarist in high regard more than 40 years after his career began.

Clapton was voted the U.K.’s #1 Guitar Hero, according to a poll by the country’s largest musical insurer, Allianz Musical Insurance.

At the London guitar show Guitar Nation Live, guitarists that visited the Allianz stand were asked to declare their guitar idols - those famous guitarists who have been a great musical influence on them.

The top five guitarists are:

Eric Clapton Jimi Hendrix Jimmy Page Jeff Beck Chuck Berry

The poll also determined that Clapton's famed ‘Blackie' Stratocaster was the guitar that they'd most like to own.

The top five guitars that musicians would like to own are:

Blackie Stratocastor, played by Eric Clapton Double neck Gibson, played by Jimmy Page Number one strat, played by Stevie Ray Vaughan Les Paul, played by Les Paul Red Special, played by Brian May

Robin Stagg, Allianz Musical Insurance's Claims Manager and guitarist said, “It's great to see that the UK still has a strong rock star tradition. At Allianz we want to make sure that guitarists can keep living like their guitar heroes by protecting their instrument should it be damaged, lost or stolen.'

The survey also asked about the guitarists' own 'inner rock star' by finding out the most unusual place the respondents had played their guitar. More than a third of musicians (38%) have played on a beach and some even made claims to playing on a plane, the underground and even three guitarists had played on a rollercoaster.

Another Myspace “Get Close” contest has hooked up one of Metallica’s biggest Australian fans with the band.

Lee Rekman of Perth, Australia, was chosen from eight finalists in a competition run by Myspace to interview two members of Metallica at their November 10 concert in Sydney.

"I've been a fan of Metallica for over 20 years and I just said what they've done for me, how they've inspired me to be all I can be. I learned to play guitar and bass guitar because of these guys," he told The West Australian.

Metallica – Myspace Get Close contest Entry from Lee Rekman

Rekman won the all-expenses-paid trip to Sydney to interview drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo backstage at Sydney's Acer Arena before the band's November 10 show.

"It was such a crazy day," says Rekman. "I was sort of panicking about what I was going to ask, I had everything written down but it just ended up being a general chat. Everything flowed, there was no awkwardness."

Last month, we covered a Myspace “Get Close” contest where one lucky fan got to meet, interview and be Slash’s roadie for a day.

Kid Rock hit the stage for the 2010 United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show, during the first game of the NFL’s tripleheader, when the Detroit Lions hosted the New England Patriots earlier today.

Rock has a history of giving back to the community, which includes time spent visiting and performing for troops overseas. More than 1,000 people participated in the halftime show, including members of the National Guard and their families.

The 2010 United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show, highlighted by Kid Rock’s performance, aims to inspire viewers to LIVE UNITED®, United Way’s call to the public to get involved in the community by focusing on the building blocks of life: education, income and health. Now in its 37th year, the United Way/NFL partnership connects NFL PLAY 60 with United Way’s 2018 goal to get 1.9 million more young people healthy and active.

The Lions lost large to the Pats, 45-24; Kid Rock was referred to as “The Best Detroit Performer at Ford Field Thursday” by the Detroit Free Press.

Kid Rock – Born Free2010 United Way Thanksgiving Halftime Show Ford Field – Detroit, MI – November 25, 2010

Metallica recently wrapped up their 2-year World Magnetic Tour with an extended series of shows in Australia, and made some history in the process.

Billboard reports Metallica smashed the ticket sales record at Sydney's Acer Arena, selling 74,244 tickets over four sell-out dates in September and November.

Metallica's feat at the 21,000-capacity arena eclipsed the previous record of 66,247 set by Britney Spears over four nights on her Circus tour in November 2009.

"It was a massive, awesome performance," Paul Sergeant, GM of Acer Arena, tells Bilboard. "Even if you weren't a Metallica follower, you'd have enjoyed that show. It was huge."

The tour, Metallica's first on these shores since 2004, opened Sept. 15 with successive nights at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena before moving on to Sydney, Christchurch, Auckland, Brisbane, Perth, returning to Sydney, visiting Adelaide and wrapping on Nov. 21 back where it all started, with the third of three closing shows at Rod Laver Arena.

"It's a fantastic tribute to Metallica, as they approach 25 years since their first Australian tour, that they enjoy such an incredible level of support," comments Michael Coppel, promoter for the Australasian leg of the group's World Magnet Tour. "They are one of the greatest live bands ever, and I'm sure everyone who has seen them on this tour will attest to that."

Metallica's "Six Feet Down Under Pt.2" (Mercury/UMA) this week bows at No. 13 on the ARIA albums chart. The EP is a limited edition, eight-song set for the Australasian market that features live tracks from the tour.